


Bloom! Episode 3 - Star Power

by pashaimeru



Series: Bloom! [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Bad Ending, Corruption, F/F, Magical Girls, Mind Control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:34:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21593146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pashaimeru/pseuds/pashaimeru
Summary: A mysterious mask shop conceals a secret. A third magical girl joins, completing the trio.
Series: Bloom! [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1556194
Kudos: 11





	1. True Path

Staaaaaare.

Dot eyed her two friends suspiciously. Sofia and Fleur were eating their lunch hastily, in total silence. As airheaded as she appeared to be, she had always been more observant than people gave her credit for. Those two were hiding _something_ , and they didn’t even do a good job at concealing it. “So... did something happen during the weekend?” Dot asked.

Fleur kept her cool. Sofia did not. “N-no! We just went shopping, that’s all. Oh! I got a nice new jacket for when it gets cold again, and Fleur... what did you get again, Fleur? Oh, those shoes! And all that other stuff!”

That was transparent. Way too transparent. What was Sofia panicking for? Dot leered at her with a sour expression on her face, chewing on her pastry. “Is that so. Huuuh. Interesting.”

“And how did Effie’s competition go?” Fleur asked, gently steering the conversation somewhere else. Dot’s younger sister had taken part in a junior martial arts tournament over the weekend, and her family had been there to cheer her on.

“She won,” Dot said, shrugging. “She was pretty cool. Got a medal and everything. Made one of the other juniors cry.”

Fleur gave her a small grimace. “Was she a bit too rough? I suppose physical sports can be like that. I hope she didn’t get in trouble.”

Dot shook her head and returned to her food. It still felt like she was being excluded from something, but hopefully that would pass. If the two of them didn’t want to talk about what happened between them, she wouldn’t push it.

* * *

The two magical girls met with Edeltrude again after school, in Sofia’s room. The golden-haired princess had a serious look on her face as she eyed the girls through the mirror, her hands clasped in front of her. “Are you certain?”

“Yeah!” Sofia said. “We want to help you! It’s not like we can just ignore the people in trouble.”

Fleur nodded. “There was never a question about it. If we can help, we will. For the sake of this town, for the sake of your world, everyone.”

The princess squeezed her hands in front of her. As serious as she tried to look, it seemed obvious the girls’ words had touched her. “I...” she said, sniffing before continuing. “Thank you, for the bottom of my heart. I never thought I would find such good allies here, so quickly.” She shook her head. “No, not allies. Friends.”

Sofia grinned. “Yeah! We’ll help you out as much as we can, Trudi!”

The girl in the mirror turned away slightly, subtly wiping her face on the sleeve of her golden white dress. Clearing her throat, she steeled her gaze again, looking over Sofia and Fleur with her sky-blue eyes. “This is going to be dangerous, but you know that. It’s not hopeless. I have a plan. But we’ll need to be proactive in our fight against my mother, or she will win.”

“What should we do?” Fleur asked.

“I did not merely use the Heart to travel here. I used its power to seal off the passage behind me as well, to prevent her from coming after me. Even though the Heart has shattered, its powers remain, and the protective barrier between our worlds holds firm.”

Fleur brought her hand to her chest. She too could feel the shards now, within her and Sofia both. Bright and radiant, unspoiled by darkness.

Edeltrude continued. “My mother’s plan is to use the Lilin to seek out and destroy or corrupt the remaining shards. With enough of them gone, she can reverse my spell and send her servants here directly. I am her true goal. She needs me to truly claim all of Melodia, and once she does... she will set her sight on other worlds. Including your own.”

“So, all we need is to keep beating them up, right?” Sofia asked. “With the two of us fighting together, that shouldn’t be a problem!”

The princess shook her head. “It’s not that easy. For one, the two Lilin you’ve faced so far are not the only ones out there. My mother is subtler than that. She will have some remain in hiding, silently seeking out shard-bearers, tainting or consuming their shards one by one. With every victim they claim, the stronger they grow, until they’re powerful enough to be more than a match for you. Even now, I can sense several Lilin in the town, though I know not where they can be found.”

“We need to find them, then,” Fleur said. “Take the fight to them.”

“That’s exactly it,” Edeltrude said. “Some of them are better at concealing themselves than the others; some of them will be able to pass for humans and pretend to live normal lives, some of them will be forced to stalk the night for their victims, too inhuman to pass themselves off as ordinary people. Some of them you should be able to sense from distance, but some might be able to hide their aura so well you’d never know just by looking at them. It all depends on the individual, the nature of their soul and the powers granted to them as Lilin.”

Sofia had definitely felt their presence of the last two Lilin she had faced. They had been like dark holes in reality, their mere proximity enough to make her feel sick to her stomach. Even if she hadn’t, though, they would’ve certainly been recognisable by their looks alone. The thought of undetectable Lilin that looked just like ordinary people was worrying, to say the least. “What should we do, then?”

The princess hesitated for a bit. “You should keep your eyes and ears open. See if you hear about people going missing or strange events. Doing regular patrols wouldn’t hurt either. You might just detect a Lilin by chance,” she finally said. It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was something. “I’ll try to help as well. I’m still connected to the Crystal Heart, shattered as it might be. I might be able to sense if something significant occurs in this town.”

* * *

There were no proper malls in White Hollow, and the locals liked it that way. Though the town wasn’t large, its historic city centre was something of a tourist attraction by local standards. Comprised of small, criss-crossing streets, it was filled with all manner of boutiques, outlets, salons, theatres and restaurants. If the locals were in the mood for shopping, or even wanted to merely kill some time, that was where they could be found.

“That place is new, isn’t it?” Dot asked, pointing at the café across the street. “Ah, that smells good! Looks like they have a bakery there too...” the bob-haired girl was on cloud nine, running across the street and very nearly pushing her face up against the shop window.

“Didn’t we just eat?” Fleur asked, shaking her head. “We can come here some other time.”

“We ate savoury stuff! I want sweet stuff! Look, they have _churros!_ ”

Sofia smiled. “Maybe we could go inside? It’s not like you have to order anything if you don’t want to, Fleur.”

The raven-haired girl sighed and relented, following her friends into the café. They emerged five minutes later, Fleur with a cup of milk tea and the other two with a bagful of fried pastries.

A few days had passed now since the promise they had made to Edeltrude, but little had changed. They hadn’t stumbled across any new Lilin, and neither had the princess succeeded at detecting anything strange. To a certain degree, this was good news—if none of them had sensed anything, it was unlikely anything major was going on. But that didn’t mean their enemies were necessarily resting on their laurels, either.

So instead, Fleur and Sofia had spent the last few evenings practicing. The name of the game had been getting more acquainted with their powers. As much potential as they had—according to Edeltrude, at least—it would take time for them to truly wield the powers the princess had granted them. The shards of the Crystal Heart within them would eventually fully bond with their souls, but it was a process that would take time and effort.

Neither of them had been blind to the fact they had been neglecting Dot as of late, however. Patrolling the town and practicing with their powers had left them precious little time for anything else. Today, they had decided, they would take the evening off to spend some time with her. As bummed as she had previously been, she had cheered up the moment they had invited her along.

“Hey, is that Effie?” Sofia asked, spotting the familiar figure across the street. It didn’t look like the girl had seen the trio: standing in a street corner, wearing a hooded jacket, she seemed to hesitate a bit before turning the corner and vanishing from sight.

“Mmphfg...” Dot mumbled, her mouth full of fried dough. She swallowed. “That’s weird! She was supposed to be at soccer practice today. Is she skipping? Oh, that wicked little sister of mine, always up to no good!”

“Ahaha...” Sofia laughed, scratching her cheek. “That doesn’t really sound like her.”

Fleur said nothing. Crossing the street and walking up to the corner they had seen Effie at, she stopped and froze. Getting closer, Sofia could now feel it too: the unmistakable presence of a Lilin, somewhere close by.

“Huh? What, what is it?” Dot asked, noticing the look the two gave each other. “Why are you making that face?”

The princess had warned them to keep their secret identities a secret: should the truth come out, the Empress’ servants would not be above targeting their friends and family. It’s not that they didn’t trust Dot, but the Lilin had their own ways of rooting out such secrets. The more people were aware of the Blooms’ true identities, the more likely it would be that they’d be exposed. Even then, Sofia had felt that Dot deserved to know, and Fleur had agreed. They simply hadn’t found the right moment to bring it up. And there wasn’t time for that right now, either.

“Dot, I...” Sofia said, trying to find the right words. Before she managed to do so, though, Fleur stepped in between them, grabbing Dot by her shoulders and looking her straight in the eye.

“Dot,” Fleur said, her tone deadly serious. “Go home. We’ll talk later.”

The orange-haired girl stared back with a mortified expression. “W-what? Hey, hey, what’s this about...?”

“Go. Home.” Fleur let go of her friend, turning around and rushing after Effie. Giving Dot the most apologetic smile she could, Sofia followed after.

* * *

Costume Shop Tragicomica. Neither Fleur nor Sofia had seen the place before, but then again, neither of them could remember if they’d ever been down this particular alleyway. White Hollow’s town centre had a confusing layout at best, and smaller stores like this came and went all the time. There was no mistaking the sinister presence that came from within, though. This was a lair of a Lilin, and not one that was particularly apt at concealing itself.

The two girls nodded at each other. They hadn’t transformed, yet: to do so would alert the Lilin to their presence, and they’d lose the advantage of surprise. Besides, Effie might’ve been inside, and neither of them wanted to see the girl taken hostage, or worse. Sofia took the point, entering the little shop. A little bell rung as she opened the door.

The store was small and cramped, as so many in the town centre tended to be. There were a few clothing racks worth of costumes in display, theatrical and extravagant, seemingly made for stage plays in mind. On one end of the store was a display of porcelain carnival masks, pale white with dramatic features painted on top—little too creepy for Sofia to ever consider wearing them. On one shelf, in the far back corner of the store, was a small display of popular Halloween costumes, featuring superheroes and cartoon characters. They were just about the only thing in the store she could imagine herself wearing.

“Oh, my! More little guests! Welcome!”

The shopkeeper greeted Sofia and Fleur with open arms as they stepped into the store. Dressed in a flamboyant dress and a wide-brimmed hat, wearing long opera gloves and covering her face with an exquisitely detailed golden mask, her appearance was... striking, to say at least. She was a Lilin, that much was obvious; the evil presence emanating from her was clear enough to both of the magical girls.

She wasn’t the only one present, however. “E-eh? Sofia? Fleur?” Dot’s younger sister peeked out from between the rows of costumes, looking at the two girls with her eyes wide. “What are you two doing here?”

“Oh, your friends? How _delightful!_ ”

“U-um, we were just... checking this place out,” Sofia stammered.

Fleur nodded, ignoring the Lilin shopkeeper for the time being. “What about you? Are you here for anything specific?”

The first priority would be to get Effie out of the store; after that, they could focus on beating up the bad guy. But with the strangely dressed shopkeeper practically breathing down their necks, and with the strange presence somewhere in the store, the two magical girls found themselves quite tense.

Effie frowned, looking at the shopkeeper for just a second before refocusing on the other two. “I was trying to find, uh, a Halloween costume,” she said. “But there’s not much here to look at. Maybe we should leave?”

“Oh, fair enough,” Fleur said, smiling at the orange-haired girl. “I think we’ll look around a bit with Sofia, first. We’ll join you outside, alright?”

The younger girl bit her lip. “Um, I’ve got something to tell you two, so how about we step outside first, and...”

“But you’ve only just come!” the masked shopkeeper declared, stepping past the two girls and peeking outside into the empty alleyway. She turned back towards the girls, now quite clearly standing in between them and the exit. “And you’ve barely seen anything, yet! I have not even shown you my special collection!”

“Lady,” Effie said, drawing a breath and glaring at the masked woman. “We’re not interested in your special collection. And you’re in our way!”

The hostility surprised both Sofia and Fleur—they had every reason to be afraid of or angry at the Lilin, of course, but they’d never seen Effie as much as raise her voice before.

There was no way to tell what kind of an expression the shopkeeper might’ve had under that golden mask of hers. She didn’t move; there were a few seconds of silence as she silently looked down at the ponytailed girl, until finally, she slowly shook her head. “Oh, I see how it is. Oh my, oh no. Another spoiled little brat. Another buffoon, another simpleton, another little child ignorant of true art!”

Sofia and Fleur took a few steps back, preparing for the worst. They didn’t want to transform in front of Effie, but it was beginning to look like they might not have a choice.

Effie did the opposite. “I said... get out of the way!” she yelled, charging the masked Lilin.

“O-ow! You—you little...!” The shopkeeper knelt over after receiving a solid kick to her shin, her voice shrill with pain.

Unfortunately for Effie, she did not have a chance to deliver a follow-up attack. As if reacting to the Lilin’s pain, the costumes on the clothes racks tore themselves free, flying through the air to pile upon the—very surprised—Effie. “H-huh? Eek!”

That was enough for the two magical girls. “Bloom Change!” they yelled out, their voices as one, the shop lit with pink and blue.

“What... what’s _this_? How strange! How peculiar! Such powers within you!” the Lilin declared, still sounding like she was in pain. “It is no matter! None of you may leave! Not until you’ve learned to submit to the Masked Venetian!”

“In your dreams, lady. We’re going to... eek!” The pile of clothes on Dot’s little sister exploded, the stage costumes flying out to all directions, haphazardly grabbing at both of the magical girls. Fleur, being closer, had less time to react; she jumped backwards, but the cramped interior of the shop prevented her from getting as far from them as she’d have liked. A ruffled shirt wrapped itself around her eyes, a purple cloak wrapping itself around her left arm and her waist and a plain peasants’ dress was in the process of binding her legs.

“Dream Wave!” yelled Bloom Hope, the blast of force knocking back a pair of trousers and a wide-brimmed hat that had been flying straight at her. This wasn’t great: the whirlwind of stage clothing within the cramped store forced her on the defensive, and there wasn’t enough space available for her to use her agility to her advantage. The last few days’ worth of practice hadn’t been all for nothing, though. Sofia had grown more confident in her abilities and had picked up a trick or two in the process. “Wish Attraction!” The clothes covering Bloom Sky’s body glowed with a pink aura as Sofia pointed at them, and as she made a pulling gesture with her hand, they were ripped straight off her.

“T-thank you,” Bloom Sky said, picking herself up, hastily ducking under a whirlwind of clothing. ”Sparkle Blitz!” A bolt of blue-white lightning struck a leather boot, blowing it apart.

“How dare you!” the Masked Venetian yelled, stomping her foot. “Each article is hand-crafted masterpiece! You philistines have no right to damage them!”

“Sparkle Blitz!” Fleur yelled again, blowing up an overcoat and retreating back to Sofia’s side. This was bad—her powers weren’t well suited for this. Her reserves of magic would run empty long before the battle was over, and even Sofia could only hold on for so long before getting overwhelmed. Had the animated clothes been just a bit more coordinated, the battle would’ve already been over for them.

“Dream Wave! And... Dream Wave!” While Bloom Hope kept knocking the approaching tornado of costumes back, but she was making no progress towards the Lilin herself. Any attack she tried to aim at her was merely absorbed by the cloud of clothing between the two.

Fleur took a stock of the situation. The masked villainess seemed to be personally directing the flying stage costumes, focusing intently on the two magical girls. Effie was still bound down by a few loose pieces of clothing, pinning her to the floor. She was trying to fight back with fervour, kicking and tearing at the costumes, but she wasn’t accomplishing much. In the corner of her eye, though, reflected off the storefront window, she could see the faint outline of Princess Edeltrude. She was pointing at something. Pointing at...

“Hope!” she said, turning to her friend. “I’m going to make a dash for it. Cover me!”

Sofia blinked. “E-eh? Okay! Dream Wave!”

Out of the two of them, Bloom Hope was the more acrobatic one, but that didn’t mean Sky was slow. She hopped over a colourful harlequin costume, barely dodging an Elizabethan tunic, letting her friend blast away a pair of pantaloons that tried to grab at her.

“H-help! She got me!” Sofia yelled from behind her, but Fleur didn’t turn to look. Instead, she rolled on the floor and grabbed Effie by her hand.

“Hope! Free her!”

“Wish... Wish Attraction!”

Like the other two magical girls, Effie seemed to know exactly what to say. “Bloom Change!” There was a bright, yellow light, the young girl before them transforming in a flash. The jeans and the jacket she had been wearing vanished, replaced with a poofy yellow dress adorned with glittering white stars. Her hair took an even more fiery, vibrant tone, her ponytail now held in place with a large, star-shaped clasp. There was a grin on her face, a twinkle in her bright golden eyes; kicking her thigh-high, yellow and white boots in the air, she flipped herself upright and—without a moment of hesitation—kicked the Lilin in the shins again.

“Aaaaugh!” she yelled, almost kneeling over but grabbing the yellow Bloom by her shoulders before falling down. The eyes of her mask glowed red. “For this insolence, I will...!”

“Stellar Champion, Bloom Lux!” Effie yelled, thrusting her palms against the Masked Venetian’s chest. “Blast Bolide!”

There was a deafening explosion of light and fury as the villainess was flung backwards, hitting the collection of masks on the back wall, shattering the shelf and making a dent on the back wall. The clothes stopped moving, all at once. All was suddenly silent, except for the ringing in the three magical girls’ ears.

“W-wow...” Sofia mumbled, tearing off the clothes that had wrapped themselves around her legs. “That was pretty cool!”

* * *

There had been no sign of Dot as the three girls had returned back to the main street. Apparently, she had gone home as told to; Sofia and Fleur would have to apologise later.

“Ahh, this is so good!” Effie said, her eyes sparkling as sampled the sundae in front of her. “Thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome,” Fleur said. “And thank you, as well. We would’ve been in real trouble if not for you.”

“Yeah! That was scary, I thought that’d be it for us.” Sofia shook her head, sighing. “I wonder if I should have a sundae, too...”

“You just ate, didn’t you?” Fleur asked her, before turning back to the younger girl. “But no, I mean it. That was impressive. I don’t think even Trudi had expected you to be able to beat her in one blow.”

The three magical girls had purified the shopkeeper and given Effie a hasty explanation of their powers, the princess and the Lilin. The young girl had been surprised, but not overwhelmed; she was dealing with all the new information remarkably well. The thought of being a transforming heroine, it seemed, appealed to her quite a bit.

“Ehehe...” Effie said, looking a bit flustered as she tugged at her orange ponytail. “I just really wanted to beat her up, you know? And when I felt all that power within me, I thought I might as well use it!”

“What were you doing in there, anyway? It looked like you already had something against her,” Sofia asked.

“...Yeah. Some of my friends at school had visited her shop. They’d brought these strange masks and wanted others to try them on. Some people did, but they just... felt bad to me. Like there was something wrong about them. I mean, they looked creepy, but it wasn’t just that. My friends were acting weird and were super insistent, so I decided to check out the shop for myself.”

“The Lilin was probably trying to brainwash people with them.” All three girls could hear the princess’s voice in their head. Her golden-haired form was reflected off the spoon in Effie’s hand.

“W-whoa!” She dropped it, and the princess’s voice went silent. Hastily picking it up again from the floor, she held it up high for all three to see.

Edeltrude cleared her throat, looking moderately annoyed. “Ahem. Well done spotting it, Effie. With the Lilin’s shard destroyed, the effects of her magic should be gone as well. The masks are dangerous no longer.” She looked straight at Effie—probably. With how small the reflection was, it was quite difficult to tell. “You’ve got sharp senses. Like your friends, you have a powerful, pure shard within you. What a strange coincidence it is that all of you already know each other so well. Only a handful of people in this town should have the spiritual strength within them and a shard large enough to be able to transform into a Bloom...”

“Could Dot do it too?” Sofia asked, her tone hopeful.

Edeltrude shook her head. “No. I had already checked her potential, and unfortunately, while she does carry a shard within her, it is much too weak. She would not have hope of containing the power needed to change forms, the way you three do.”

Sofia’s shoulders slumped. “Aww.”

Effie tilted her head. “So Dot really doesn’t know?” she asked. “About any of this? That’s not right, we should tell her!”

Edeltrude opened her mouth as if to protest, but soon her expression softened. “...Yes. She’s important to all three of you. You should tell her.”

* * *

“So much for that plan. She got herself beaten like a loser.” Lilibeth said, looking up at the girl she had once called her friend. Now, she wasn’t so sure. Edelynn had _changed_ after what the Empress had done to her. They all had, after a fashion—but there seemed to be almost no trace of her former self left in her.

“Mm,” the red-haired girl said, a small smile on her crimson lips. Her gaze made Lilibeth shiver. It was as if she was dissecting her with her eyes alone. “Yes. She did.”

“So... so you aren’t doing any better than us!” the witch said. “We’re all still tied!”

“No,” came the response. “She was active long enough. She destroyed several shards. That’s all I expected from her.”

“Eh? R-really?” Lilibeth blinked. “Well, you should’ve told us! That means we’re closer to our goal! Her Grace will be happy with us!”

“...Useless.” Edelynn said. The witch frowned, but she continued. “You’re useless. You and Ione both. You will not accomplish anything of note. There will be no salvation for you when the Darkness swallows us all.”

“D-don’t pretend you’re better than us! You just got lucky, that’s all!”

“No. If I were lucky...” the red-haired girl said, looking down at the young witch. “Perhaps her Grace would allow me to fix you. You’d make for a wonderful tool, with certain... modifications.”

“You don’t scare me!” Lilibeth lied, taking a step back, pulling her purple hat over her eyes in a huff. “And don’t think she’s not going to hear about this! The Empress has given us free hands, but she’s not going to be happy with you threatening your allies!”

The lilac-haired girl stormed off. Edelynn scoffed, turning back to the operating table. “Now... let’s continue our work, shall we?”

She almost regretted having cut off the vocal cords already. Some screams would’ve served well to improve her mood.


	2. Another Fate

“She’s not wrong,” the tiny girl says, idly stroking the strand of fate she had slowly been following down. “The princess, I mean. Is it really a coincidence?”

She turns her milky white eyes towards her visitor, a smile on her face. “What do you think? Is it fate? Is there someone moving the blocks in the background?” A giggle. “My sisters? I wouldn’t know. We don’t talk, much. It’s distracting. I suppose we don’t really have a close relationship these days. But that’s okay.”

Turning back to focus on the string, she traces her small finger upwards. “And now there are three. I think they’ve reached their potential, for the time being. This one stood no chance. The newest champion is much too strong. I see no branch in which she would lose.”

“But,” she says, slowly, slowly tracing her hand ever upwards. “Look. A possibility. If she can’t lose a fight, then what if there’s no fight to begin with?” The girl sighs contently. She seems to be enjoying this. “You can’t always expect for your friends to be in the right place at the right moment. That would just be unreasonable, don’t you think?”

* * *

“That place is new, isn’t it?” Dot asked, pointing at the café across the street. “Ah, that smells good! Looks like they have a bakery there too...” the bob-haired girl was on cloud nine, running across the street and very nearly pushing her face up against the shop window.

“Didn’t we just eat?” Fleur asked, shaking her head. “We can come here some other time.”

“Eeeh...” Dot said, frowning a bit, looking wistfully at the baked treats inside. “Alright, but that’s a promise! We’re definitely going to try them out in the future!”

“Yeah!” Sofia said, smiling brightly. “I want to try some too, next time.”

Passing the café, the three girls kept walking down the street. They were just a little too early to spot the young, pony-tailed girl that appeared in the street corner behind them.

* * *

“Oh my, welcome! What a cute little guest we have here today!”

Effie froze as she saw the shopkeeper. None of her friends had apparently bothered to mention what a weirdo she was. The extravagant dress and the golden mask, the long gloves and frilly stockings, it all made her look like a creature from some alien planet. It was hard to imagine any potential customer would stick around for long, with how creepy the woman looked.

Then again, the place’s customer base was hard to pin down. When she had heard it was a costume shop, she’d assumed it meant something more fun than this. An amateur theatre group might’ve been interested in what the place had to offer, but who else would ever buy something so... Shakespearean? Tucked away in one corner were some regular-looking Halloween costumes, but they looked unloved and neglected, as if they were only here due to some weird obligation to have them.

“Um.” Effie said, looking up at the shopkeeper. There was something off about her presence, something that made her stomach churn, the same way those strange masks had made her feel. She didn’t really want to judge someone she had never met before, but...

  
“Yes?” she asked, stepping uncomfortably close. She was a tall woman, towering above the young girl. Effie reflexively took a step back. “May I help you?”

“I am just browsing. Thank you very much,” the orange-haired girl said, quickly retreating between two racks of clothing. Her heart was beating loudly; she felt incredibly nervous. There was something oppressive about the woman’s mere presence, about the whole place. Maybe she shouldn’t have come here alone?

The masked shopkeeper kept staring at her from a distance. Effie feigned interest in the stage costumes for a bit before stepping over to look at the collection of porcelain masks. Someone might’ve thought of them as beautiful: they were certainly finely made, hand-crafted and carefully painted. But the white, full-face carnival masks were _creepy_. There was no other word for it. Who would possibly wear them, except maybe as a part of an especially freaky Halloween costume? Looks aside, though, Effie didn’t feel the presence of that dark aura within them. The masks that her friends had had—those had been different.

“Interested in my masks, are you?” said the voice from behind Effie. “You have an excellent taste! May I show you my... special collection?”

Effie bristled. She hadn’t even noticed the woman had been right behind her. Turning around swiftly, she spotted something out of the corner of her eye: the “OPEN” sign at the entrance had been turned around. Somewhere along the line, the masked woman had closed the shop. This was all starting to be too much for her. She had wanted to find out what exactly was going on with this strange store and her friends’ obsession with its masks, but she was in over her head. Effie was a brave girl, but she wasn’t stupid. Coming here like this had been a mistake.

“I... should go,” she said.

As she tried to step past the masked woman, she grabbed her by her shoulders, her nails digging painfully into her skin. “Not yet, darling.”

They had spent some time at the dojo discussing how to incapacitate an aggressor. Effie had taken those lessons to heart. Without even hesitating, she aimed a kick behind her, striking at the masked woman’s left shin. She must not have seen it coming, considering how cleanly the kick landed.

“O-oow! You... you little monster!” the woman yelled, losing her grip on Effie’s shoulders. “You shall pay for your insolence!”

Effie ran for the door, but something grabbed at her leg, causing her to stumble. Something soft covered her head, blinding her; something wrapped itself around her arms and her waist, binding them to her body. “Mmmffff...!” She tried to yell, but the thick cloth around her face prevented her from shouting. More and more things began covering her, a thick cocoon of clothes soon sealing off all of her movements. She found herself being pulled down to the floor, though mercifully, the additional padding around her prevented her from getting hurt.

“I have always adored a captive audience!” The woman’s voice sounded muffled through the layer of clothing around Effie’s head, but there was no mistaking her gloating tone. For a good measure, she tried to struggle still, roll around or kick herself free, but she could barely budge. If anything, the clothes around her only seemed to constrict her tighter.

Effie could feel the shopkeeper’s gloved hands on her, turning her body on her back. She could feel them creeping under the clothes that bound her, under her jacket and her t-shirt, touching her stomach directly. She was doing _something_ to her, something that felt more disturbing than anything she’d ever felt. It was as if she was reaching inside of her, somehow, rummaging around and looking for something.

“Oh, my. This power within you... it glows so bright! Far more so than the others who’ve visited my store. With this much power, I could make hundreds of masks. What a precious gift you’ve given me, the Masked Venetian!”

Though Effie had no idea what the woman’s words meant, they made her try to struggle twice as hard as before. The sinking feeling in her stomach told her that something terrible was going to happen. She never should’ve come to this store. Not alone. She could’ve at least asked her big sister for help...

“Mmpgf!” Something slid up through the clothes around her face: a silk sock, forcing itself up into her mouth. The trousers that had been covered her face were torn off by the golden masked shopkeeper, giving her a chance to see again. She found herself face-to-face with a porcelain mask, this one emitting the same dark aura as she had felt before, from the masks possessed by those girls in her school. It was child-sized, just right for her face; its flawlessly white porcelain surface had dark gold makeup painted around its eye holes and its thin lips, curved up to a creepy smile. Blind panic gripped Effie’s heart as the shopkeeper turned it around, slowly lowering it down towards her face. “Mmffnn!”

“This... is what I have chosen for you, my darling,” the Venetian said, slowly, lovingly lowering it down to cover the girl’s face. “A piece of myself. A new life for you. With this, you shall be forgiven...”

If Effie could’ve screamed, she would’ve. As the mask was pressed against her face, it seemed to almost meld with it, attaching itself tightly to her head. Dark energy flowed through it into the young girl’s body, filling her mind, licking at her soul. The mask’s evil presence seemed to have a mind of its own, a malicious intent. It was possessing her, dark tendrils spreading outwards from it, exploring every nook and cranny, getting acquainted with its new host.

“Such fierce resistance!” the Masked Venetian said. “The others lost the fight within moments. And yet you struggle and struggle. I adore your passion!”

Effie’s cheeks felt wet. She hadn’t even realised she had been crying. The mask on her face was slowly snuffing out the light from within her, giving her soul a dark embrace. It was not merely content with invading its host anymore: it was _merging_ with her, infiltrating the core of her being. It was gnawing at her, changing her, dominating her, and worst of all, it was beginning to feel good. She was being pulled under. She was getting sleepy...

...

“...Yes, mistress.” Effie’s mind awoke. That was her own voice. She could feel herself moving, standing up. Her sight was covered in dark haze, but through it, she could vaguely recognise the shopkeeper’s golden mask. She was... presenting herself to her? Feeling pride?

“Two hours, hm?” the Venetian said, tapping the chin of her mask. “Most curious. Most curious indeed. How is it that you resisted so long?”

Effie stood there silently. Her mind was panicking, but her body remained calm. A steady heartbeat, a steady breath.

“No matter.” Effie could feel the woman’s hands on her again, touching her chest. Reaching _into_ it. “It glows as bright as before. Superb. This might hurt a bit, darling, but try to bear with it...”

The Venetian grabbed something within Effie, and once again, she wanted to scream. She was _tearing_ something out of her, something warm, something precious. Forcibly, violently, tugging it free, tainting its purity with her very touch. The Effie inside of Effie tried to struggle and resist, but she could do nothing. The shard from within her was stolen, its warmth forever lost. She could feel her body stumbling a bit but remaining upright; her mind, meanwhile, was dragged under once again...

...

Effie looked at herself in the mirror. She hated this face. The false face. The one she was forced to present to her friends and her family, to keep up the lie. This wasn’t who she was, not anymore. With an odd smile, she crouched down to open her backpack, revealing the white and yellow mask within. Putting it on, she felt whole again, the screams inside of her quieted once more.

“I can’t wait until you’re gone,” she said to her reflection, her expression unreadable through the mask. “Until we truly are one. It won’t be long now.”

The other Effie struggled to stay awake, but the mask’s presence was oppressive, pushing her down again. Deeper and deeper. It was getting more difficult for her to wake up.

...

“Here, try this on!” Effie said, grinning at her big sister. “Come on, it’ll be fun! You like weird stuff, don’t you?”

Dot looked a bit hesitant at first, but there was no chance she could resist the charms of her cute little sister. “A-alright then. I didn’t know you liked this kind of stuff, Effie...” she said, taking the porcelain mask to her hands and turning it over.

It hadn’t been difficult to convince her to come. Effie’s mistress watched over the two, watched as Dot put the mask on. As she fell on her knees and tried to claw at it and tear it off, Effie sneered. Taking her time, she watched her big sister’s struggles slow down, and finally end. She had lasted for a minute, no longer. It’d be a matter of days for her, before her former self would be completely absorbed by her new mask.

“Very well done, darling,” The Venetian said, ruffling Effie’s hair. The girl giggled, accepting the praise, kissing the back of her mistress’ gloved hand as it was presented for her.

Behind her, her sister slowly stood up, presenting herself for her shard to be consumed.

The shadow of a girl remaining within Effie’s heart wept bitterly, losing the last grip she had on reality.


End file.
